Jade Crow lives a quiet life running her comic book and game store in Wylde, Idaho. After twenty-five years fleeing from a powerful sorcerer who wants to eat her heart and take her powers, quiet suits her just fine. Surrounded by friends who are even less human than she is, Jade figures she’s finally safe.

As long as she doesn’t use her magic.

When dark powers threaten her friends’ lives, a sexy shape-shifter enforcer shows up. He’s the shifter world’s judge, jury, and executioner rolled into one, and he thinks Jade is to blame. To clear her name, save her friends, and stop the villain, she’ll have to use her wits… and her sorceress powers.

Except Jade knows that as soon as she does, a far deadlier nemesis awaits.

Justice Calling is the first book in The Twenty-Sided Sorceress urban fantasy series. Readers who enjoyed The Dresden Files or The Iron Druid Chronicles will likely enjoy this series.

The book ended the current plot but left a lot hanging. Also the book is thin, worth two and a half hours listening time. An average length paperback is about roughly ten to fifteen hours long, so two hours is really thin. This shouts to us that there are more books in the series (as if we'd miss that glaring fact). The ending is a start of the next book which, although closed the plot, left off as a cliffhanger. I am not fond of cliffhangers, so that garnered a low rating with me. I like the story telling quality though. It's not as masterful as Ilona Andrews' but good enough to hook me as a reader. The world building is great too! It got shapeshifters and witches. Maybe we'll see elves and dwarves a few books down the line. Elements that catches my fantasy geek's attention. And I love the narration! The voice quality is not as soothing to the ears as Therese Plummer's but I love her narration anyways. In the end, it was a good read, seeing that it is a very short book. I would give it an overall entertainment value of four out of five.

Annie Bellet is a full-time speculative fiction writer. She holds a BA in English and a BA in Medieval Studies and thus can speak a smattering of useful languages such as Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Welsh.

Her books include Avarice (Pyrrh Considerable Crimes Division: Book 1), A Heart in Sun and Shadow (Cymru That Was: Book 1), The Gryphonpike Chronicles series, and the Twenty-Sided Sorceress series.

Wednesday, 18 May 2016

The once prosperous European kingdom of Arelanda has been plagued with poverty and corruption since the failed rebellion tore it apart. Now, rebels stir again in the capital’s underbelly, vowing to depose the monarchy and overturn the unjust government.

Seventeen-year-old Rogan Elwood, son of a rebel leader executed for treason after the first rebellion, has borne a tainted legacy his entire life. As he is pulled deeper into conflict, Rogan must face his calling in the future of the rebel cause — waging his want for peace against his desire for vengeance. Everything changes when he falls for Elyra — beautiful, idealistic and determined to bring Arelanda a better future. She also just happens to be next in line to the throne — if the corrupt Minister General doesn’t beat her to it.

Caught in the midst of a budding civil war and surrounded by enemies on every side, Elyra and Rogan must fight to save themselves and their country — and choose between each other and their duty.

Amanda J. Clay is a California native currently residing in the beautiful and eclectic community of Berkeley, CA. When she's not staring at a computer screen, she spends most of her spare time plotting world adventures. Rebel Song is her first of many planned novels.

This book is a slow start for me and it didn't really pick up until about two-thirds through. The slowness is not because of the story telling quality (which I like), but more of me having issues with some of the protagonists' actions than anything else. Some authors can carry insensitiveness and idiocy through with aplomb. This one hit a bit of a snag. Not big, mind. But a snag none-the-less. That brought the character development a few points down. But on the plus side, a factor which made me plod on with this book is the tantalizing idea of Vesper as hinted at in Book 2. I want to read more about Vesper but to do that I gotta read Book 1 first. Thus this book got read through. Now, post-apocalyptic worlds are not my kind of thing, but this one was woven beautifully. That brought the rating of this book up considerably.

I like Jot Davies's narration, but I think his reading is just a tad bit slow. No problem! I can set the reading to go faster in the audible app. Problem solved! Do I like the app? Heck, yeah!

Peter Newman lives in Somerset with his wife and son. Growing up in and around London, Peter studied Drama and Education at the Central School of Speech and Drama, going on to work as a secondary school drama teacher. He now works as a trainer and Firewalking Instructor. He sometimes pretends to be a butler for the Tea and Jeopardy podcast, which he co-writes, and which has been shortlisted for a Hugo Award.

Jot Davies is a television and voice actor who recorded dozens of audiobooks, including Ben Goldacre’s Bad Pharma and multiple works by Charles Cumming and Paul Strathern. In reviewing his narration of A Foreign Country, AudioFile magazine praises, “Davies’s narration ushers you in” and his “pacing fits the narrative,” calling his voice “a steady presence through the disparate events from the beginning to the satisfying conclusion.” Outside of narration, his acting credits include television shows Casualty, New Tricks and Hotel Babylon and the video game Haze.